Ginger

Some years ago I thought lace doilies where.. uhm, let’s say something you would find at your grandma’s house (absolutely no offence to grandmothers, they’re the best). And now all of a sudden, you can find them in my house. It’s funny how some things change. I see lace doilies a lot since I go to flea markets every week, and one day when I saw a huge stack of them I got an idea.

The pattern is often quite beautiful and would translate well onto cookies. So I picked out a few, the trick is to choose the ones that are smooth and non hairy (in lack of a better word) or you’ll end up with hairs in you cookies. And of course, it should also be clean!

I see myself as decent at piping gingerbread houses, but cookies? Nope. Not sure why! That’s why I looove these cookies. They look fancy and there’s almost no extra work! I’ll be using some of them as gift tags together with wax paper and silk ribbons from Nåde.

Gingerbread cookies

Makes approximately 75 cookies

INGREDIENTS

100 g (1 scant stick) salted butter

75 ml (1/3 cup) molasses or dark syrup

135 g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

75 ml (1/3 cup) heavy cream

300 g (approx. 2 cups) all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine butter, molasses and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. When the mixture is melted, stir in the spices, remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Cover the bowl and let it rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out pieces of dough to about 5-6 mm thickness. Dust some flour over the dough. Place a clean lace doily on top and gently press it onto the dough, then roll out the dough to 3-4 mm thickness. The cookies need to be quite thin or they will puff up too much in the oven and the pattern will fade. Gently remove the doily and cut out cookies using cookie cutters or a knife.

Bake the cookies for 5-6 minutes depending on size. If you’d like to use them as gift tags, make a small hole with a toothpick as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. Let cool completely.

It’s been a couple of years since I made a post about edible gifts, so I thought it was about time! Thses posts are actually some of my favorite things to create and this recipe is just SO good. I already made three huge batches (I didn’t give any of it away though, hehee), some of which is waiting for me in the freezer. I’m pretty sure I will make a couple more batches before Christmas, some to keep and some to give away.

What’s also great about this recipe is that it’s so forgiving, and you can tweak it to your own liking. I for example, love my chai lattes to be quite sweet, but if you’re giving it to someone who isn’t keen on sweet things, you can make it with less sweetener.

It also feels more sustainable to not buy so much new stuff, I simply used bottles and jars that I already had at home! I bought a couple from a flea market too, I just cleaned them with a bottle brush and sterilized them in the oven. A lot of people don’t want more things to clutter their homes and minds, so edible gifts are just perfect. And if you have the patience, making some gingerbread house toppers to go with the gift, I’m sure that would be appreciated too! I didn’t use a template for them, I just cut out the pieces with a knife. I did cheat and used store bought dough though..

Homemade Chai Concentrate

Makes 6 cups / 1 1/2 litre

This recipe is very forgiving so you can tweak it to your own liking. I’ve tried it with both granulated sugar and a mix of honey and maple syrup and both are delicious! You can’t really taste any difference. I like my chai latte really sweet so I used 200 ml of honey in the recipe, but you can make it without any sweetener too! Don’t worry if the mixture is cloudy, I had that happen when I used honey and loose tea. Any leftover chai concentrate can be frozen in freezer proof containers. And don’t forget to write a little note with instructions to the lucky person who receives the gift!

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine water and honey/sugar in a large saucepan. Let the mixture come to a boil and stir until honey/sugar is dissolved, then add all ingredients except for the tea. Place a lid on the saucepan and let the mixture simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the tea. Let steep for 10 minutes.

Discard the tea bags and let the mixture cool.

Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, then pour into clean and dry airtight jars or bottles. Store in the fridge for up to one week.

Chai Latte

Serves 2

Depending on how sweet you made your chai concentrate and how strong you like your latte, I’d say you’ll want at least 1/3 part chai concentrate to 2/3 parts milk. For more flavour, use equal parts. You can leave out the whipped cream and use a milk frother for the milk. As for the tiny gingerbread houses, I made them using storebought dough, and I basically just cut out pieces with a knife and then ‘glued’ them together with icing!

INGREDIENTS

200 ml (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp.) chai concentrate

300 ml (1 1/4 cup) milk of your choice

whipped cream for topping

cinnamon, for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the chai concentrate and milk in a saucepan. Pour into cups and top with whipped cream, cinnamon and a tiny gingerbread house/cookie if you want!

I have to say, I absolutely LOVED creating this cake. It’s the most fun I’ve had in the kitchen in a long time, and I definitely felt like I was a kid again. Which I think is exactly what baking and blogging should feel like! I can’t say it was without a little bit of frustration too, which is also part of baking, photographing and blogging I guess.

I can’t even remember the last time I piped icing on gingerbread cookies and at first it was just frustrating but after a good night’s sleep (it never fails me), I sort of got the hang of it. I will probably never be a master at it but I do enjoy it! Perhaps this year will be the year I make a gingerbread house again? We’ll see, we’ll see…

I love experimenting with recipes and tried a couple of different versions for the gingerbread layer, but in the end, this one with lingonberries was definitely my favorite. Lots and lots of flavor and so moist (I know a lot of people hate that word but I don’t know what other word to use, hehe).

I also experimented with getting that blueish grey shade on the cake. I was thinking about how blueberry powder reacts when I add lemon juice to it – it becomes pink when you add something acidic, so I figured it would become more blue when adding something alkaline. And it totally worked! Feel free to try it if you want, or don’t if you think it sounds weird. I promise you it’s not though! Hope you like it!

GINGERBREAD VILLAGE CAKE

Makes one 9-inch layer cake

Some notes about this recipe:
-If you can’t find lingonberry jam for this recipe, I bet frozen lingonberries would work too, just thaw them and stir them together with a little bit of sugar. Apple sauce might work too but I haven’t tried either of those suggestions.
-I used store-bought gingerbread dough for this cake but feel free to make your own! If your cookies float out too much during baking, be prepared with a sharp knife as soon as they get out of the oven – and cut the edges again. The cookies are still soft when they get out of the oven!
-Because I prefer not to use artificial food coloring, I experimented with black sesame and blueberry powder! I wanted the cake to be slightly grey/blue so I added some black sesame paste which does give a slight taste to the cake. Omit the sesame seeds if you know you don’t like them. I added baking soda to blueberry powder to change the ph of it. This doesn’t affect the flavor at all, but feel free to omit this from the recipe if you want. Or use a food coloring of your choice! Or just leave the cake white. All options are totally fine!

INGREDIENTS

Gingerbread cake

200 g (1 3/4 stick) salted butter

360 g (2 1/2 cups) all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. flaky salt

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

1 tbsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. freshly ground cardamom

2 tsp. freshly ground cloves

1 tsp. allspice (can be omitted)

4 large eggs

360 g (1 2/3 cup) granulated sugar

250 ml (1 cup) sour cream

150 ml (2/3 cup) lingonberry jam

Gingerbread cookies

about 500 g of gingerbread dough (I used store-bought but feel free to use homemade)

GINGERBREAD CAKE

Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy and lighter in color, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients and butter to the egg mixture in additions, and stir until completely smooth. Stir in the sour cream and lingonberry jam.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake on the middle rack for 25-27 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then unmold onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Knead the dough lightly with floured hands to make it soft and pliable. Lightly flour the table and the rolling pin and roll out to 2-3 mm thickness.

Cut out little house shaped cookies using a knife, or a cookie cutter if you have one (I made my cookies between 5-8 cm high, as the cake is around 8 cm high). Bake the cookies at 175°C (350°F) for about 5-8 minutes depending on size. Let cool completely.

Stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Start with a small amount of juice and add more until icing reaches a good piping consistency. Your mixture should be thick enough that it will not run when piped, but not so thick that you can’t squeeze it through a piping bag.

Transfer icing to piping bag and cut a tiny hole in the bag for piping. Decorate the cookies and let the icing harden before placing the cookies on the cake.

FROSTING

Beat butter and powdered sugar until pale and fluffy. Add cream cheese and vanilla and beat until just smooth. Stir in the orange zest.

Place the black sesame seeds and maple syrup in a mortar and pestle. Crush and grind the seeds until a paste forms. Stir the paste into the frosting.

If the frosting seems soft, place the bowl in the fridge while you prepare the next steps.

ASSEMBLY

Cut both cake layers in half using a serrated knife so you get four cake layers.

Place the first cake layer on a cake board or directly onto a plate or cake stand. Spread a layer of frosting on the first layer. Repeat this until you’ve used up all layers.

Spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. Place the cake in the fridge for a few minutes if the frosting is soft.

Place the blueberry powder and baking soda in a small bowl and stir in some water. Let stand for a couple of minutes, then add to the remaining frosting. Stir until smooth.

Cover the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate with the gingerbread cookies. I placed toothpicks behind the cookies on top of the cake to get them to stand up. Dust with snow (aka powdered sugar) if desired.

A few months ago I saw this beautiful spot right next to the water on one of our daily forest walks with Mozart (our little westie, in case you’ve missed him in my instagram stories). I knew I had to have a shoot there at some point because it was just so pretty. But then, life happened and I forgot all about it.

Honestly I have so many ideas all the time, so many things I want to do. It becomes almost too much, and I end up doing nothing – which means staring at my computer screen and all the e-mails I should be responding to and then feeling bad about not being able to and decide to punish myself a little bit more by staring at my screen for another few hours, getting absolutely nothing done. It’s a vicious circle.

So a couple of days ago, after test baking this cake a couple of times – I decided that spot I had found was the perfect place to shoot this cake. Of course it was also the same day we had to service our car so I had to take my bike. I don’t mind at all, I actually LOVE cycling and I don’t drive – but with the cold and the wind and a heavy crate on my bike I almost turned around after a little while. I’m so glad I didn’t though! I forget how much I love shooting outside, and that I was finally able to shoot with these gorgeous pieces from Leu Ceramics (that cup is my new favorite for espresso and in this case, apple juice, hehe).

I was however not able to bring my tripod on my bicycle and I wanted to make a couple of cinemagraphs so I had to build a ‘tripod’ on top of the crate using a 100mm lens, an 85 mm lens, my phone and a tampon. Yeah… don’t even ask. It worked though! Perhaps not the angle I wanted, but still. You can see them right underneath the recipe. As for the recipe, it’s sort of like a soft gingerbread cake, which is one of my favorite things to eat this time of year.

SPICED PEAR CAKE

Makes 1 cake

Choose pears that are quite firm for this cake, or they will become mushy when the cake is baked. I’ve tried this recipe with yogurt and creme fraiche and both work like a charm!

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, zests and vanilla until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour in three additions, and the creme fraiche/yogurt in two, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Wash the pears and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel. Cut of a little bit of the bottom of the pears so they stand up straight in the batter. If you skip this step, they will tip over. Press the pears down into the batter, stem end up.

Bake the cake on the lowest rack of the oven for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Start checking around 40 minutes, as you might need to cover the cake with foil if the pears are browning too much.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the sides of the springform pan, or if you’ve baked in another pan you can leave the cake to cool completely in the pan. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

I’ve been wanting to make something with beetroot for the longest time. I know, I know, I’m obsessed with anything edible that has a cool color. I can’t believe I’ve never used beetroot before though!

It has such an earthy and lovely flavor, especially paired with ginger and lemon. It might not be for everyone, but I absolutely love how different it is. I also baked a cake with beetroot using my favorite carrot cake recipe. The batter was a bright pink color so I figured maybe it would keep at least some of the color? Nope, it turned completely orange/brown.

I don’t know much about chemistry but something definitely changes during the baking. It probably has to do with the pH and my guess is my recipe didn’t have enough acidic ingredients in it. I think I need to do more research before trying again, and I already know what my next beetroot recipe will be, and it will definitely involve chocolate.

BEETROOT & GINGER ICE CREAM

Makes a little more than 1/2 quart

If you don’t have a juicer and still want to make this recipe, you can use a blender or food processor to puree the beetroot and ginger together with a little bit of water. Strain the mixture and reserve the juice. You might need to use an extra beetroot or so to get the 100 ml of juice needed for the recipe. If you want to make ice cream sandwiches, I used this recipe for butterscotch gingerbread cookies.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into a freezer proof bowl and place in the freezer. When partially frozen (after 1-2 of hours), take it out and beat with an electric mixer to break up any ice crystals. Repeat several times during the freezing process. Freeze until firm enough to scoop. It will likely be a bit more icy than when you use a machine for churning but it’ll still be delicious!

INSTRUCTIONS

BEETROOT & GINGER ICE CREAM

Trim the edges of the beet roots. Peel them if they are very dirty, if not, washing them is enough. Cut them in smaller pieces and process them in a juicer together with the ginger. In a medium bowl, combine the beet juice, cream, lemon zest and juice.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 2 tbsp. of the milk.

Heat the remaining milk, sugar and salt in a small saucepan until it comes almost to a boil and the sugar melts. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry and cook over low heat, stirring vigorously, until mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and mix with the beet juice and cream mixture. Stir until combined.

Let mixture cool completely. If you wish to speed things up a little, put the bowl in an ice bath and stir until cool. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and store in fridge until completely cold, preferably overnight.

Stir in vodka if using. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

Transfer ice cream to a freezer container. Smooth the top with a spatula, then loosely cover the surface of the ice cream with wax paper and freeze until almost solid, about 2-4 hours.

Up until now I haven’t really been too
fond of rhubarb. I mean I’ve always loved the taste but thought it
was way to tart, stringy and tough. I’m not going to blame it on the
rhubarb though, obviously I’ve done something wrong when cooking it.

I made this poached rhubarb with
cardamom yesterday and it was heavenly. Even Christian ate two
cupcakes and said that rhubarb never tasted so good. I can tell you
he’s usually no fan of cupcakes, nor is he a fan of rhubarb.

So dear rhubarb, please forgive me for
all the bad things I’ve said about you in the past. It’s not you, it’
me.

And thank you for being so good with
vanilla, ginger and cardamom.

To all my Swedish readers: I hear you!
I’ll try to figure out some way of posting most recipes in Swedish
too but right now my time is very limited (third book is taking up
all of my time right now). I hope you understand! xx

4. Divide batter amongst the cupcake liners and bake for 20-23 minutes for normal size cupcake, 18 minutes for medium and 15 minutes for mini. Check doneness with a toothpick before removing from the oven. Let cool.

2. Let simmer very gently for about 3-5 minutes or until rhubarb is soft, not mushy!

3. Put a strainer on top of a bowl. Pour mixture into strainer and put the rhubarb pieces in another bowl to cool. Pour the liquid back into the saucepan and let simmer until slightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Pour into a bowl to let cool. Mix together rhubarb and liquid.